Another Nightmare before Christmas
by King in Yellow
Summary: Last year's Solstice party was A Nightmare before Christmas. This year's will cause two small girls to ask Grandpa James to take them home. No easy task, even for a Possible, when they claim to have not yet been born. Best Enemies universe
1. Another Year, Another Solstice

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various and sundry characters from the Kim Possible series are owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

A year earlier the Legal Lesbian's Solstice Party had turned into **A Nightmare before Christmas** for the residents of Possible Manor (although Ron and Bonnie had no particular reason to complain). Kim and Shego agreed, with fear and trembling, to let their house be used again for a party the next year.

NoDrogs created the twins, whose origin has been altered in my stories.

**Another Year, Another Solstice**

"Are you sure you're okay with the tree?" Kim asked Shego as party planners set up another enormous Christmas tree in the entryway at Casa Possible.

"No," Shego sighed, "I am not okay. But it is important to you and I have to live with it."

"You sounded more positive about it when you said Alice could put it up… Is that just because she's your boss? I mean, Ron is Jewish and he doesn't mind."

"And I've told you a dozen times, Ron grew up Jewish. He's secure in who he is. I'm still not secure about being Jewish."

Kim put her arms around her partner and hugged her tightly, "You're Jewish dear. You're completely and helplessly Jewish. You're Jewish by birth. You're Jewish by choice. You're even a lawyer, for Pete's sake. I don't think you could be more Jewish."

"And you are sexy," Shego murmured, returning the hug, "Completely and helplessly sexy. I don't think you could be more--"

Kim's lips cut off Shego's words. "Eewww," Kasy complained, "Mommy, Eemah stop it."

Shego broke the kiss long enough to say, "Mommy and Eemah love each other. This is what grownups do."

"Be like your sister and ignore us," Kim suggested.

Shego's lips moved back towards Kim, but the redhead quickly interposed a finger in front of the green woman's lips. "Just promise me one thing. If this year's Legal Lesbian Solstice Party is anything, I mean _anything_, like last year's you will tell your boss 'no' if she ever asks to use our house again for anything, ever."

"Agreed," Shego assured her, and the intervening finger was removed.

"Eewww!" Kasy began again.

Sheki elbowed her sister, "Ignore them."

After the earlier disaster Judge Armstrong turned the second Solstice Party at Shego's home into a sit down dinner, strictly limited to members of the group living in Middleton.

"How do I look," Shego asked nervously an hour and a half before guests were scheduled to arrive.

Kim eyed her critically, "You look wonderful. Let's go check on Santa's little helpers."

"Chanukah gnomes."

"Chanukah gnomes?"

"Hey, it sounds more religious than working for some fat guy in red underwear who lives at the North Pole."

Kasy and Sheki were already in their green dresses, wearing green hats - each of which had a red feather, and wearing tights with red and white stripes. After looking at the twins Shego turned to Kim, "Changed my mind, Santa's little helpers after all."

Shego and the twins lit Chanukah candles. Then Kim and Shego watched their daughters play until the doorbell rang.

"Must be Alice - guests shouldn't be getting here for another half hour."

Bonnie took the judge's arrival as her cue to leave. "Ron and I will be at the Off-Elm Street Theater. Don't call us. I don't want to be pinched again this year." When she turned to go Shego quickly reached over and pinched her.

"Kim! Stop that!"

Kim glared at Shego, who tried very hard, and not very successfully, to look innocent.

Bonnie did not turn her back on Kim and Shego as she called, "Ron! Front and center!" The two had gotten engaged after the Solstice party a year earlier and Bonnie hoped he had gotten her a nice present for the anniversary. She was especially hoping for a ring to make the engagement official and had something very, _very_ special in mind for Ron if he came through.

A few minutes after the two left the doorbell rang again, and Kim opened the door to find a uniformed policeman. "Can I help you?"

He politely touched the brim of his cap, "Officer Hernandez, Ma'am. Here to watch the door."

The redhead frowned slightly and turned to the two lawyers who were chatting, "Did someone order a policeman? And he had better not be a male stripper."

"Not for this crowd," Alice reminded her. "He's monitoring the guest list. We won't have another party like last year."

Steve Crandall, from the DA's office, arrived with his wife and their five year old daughter. Kim attempted to introduce Briana to the twins, but before she could finish Sheki grabbed the blond girl by the hand and exclaimed, "Come look at our room. We've got a Smaug."

"Smog in their room?" Mrs. Crandall asked.

"S-m-a-u-g," Shego explained. "Family pet."

"Cat or a dog?"

"No."

More arrivals forced the Crandalls to move in before they got an answer to the question.

The bar had been set up in the library again for the hour preceding dinner. The Crandalls saw little of their daughter during the cocktail hour, but heard the sounds of laughter and running feet often.

Before dinner started the guests assembled in the dining room. Judge Armstrong regarded the group as her family and had small gifts. She used Kasy and Sheki to deliver them to the different individuals.

While the twins stayed busy Briana complained, "Daddy, Sheki and Kasy have a ghost and a dragon. Can you get me a ghost and a dragon?"

"We don't have room in our house for a ghost or a dragon," her mother reminded her. "The ghost would want his own room--"

"They have a lady ghost. I could share my room."

"And dragons are too big for the house."

"It's a little dragon!"

"Is it an iguana, Sweetie?" Steve Crandall asked his daughter.

"It's a dragon, a real little dragon, I--"

"Mommy and daddy will look at it with you after dinner, okay?" The guests were beginning to take their places in anticipation of Chef Dimitri's dinner. Briana was to eat with the twins in their room, "Run along now. Go play with the twins and their dragon and let the grownups eat dinner."

By the time the adults had finished their salads the children were done eating. By the time the adults had finished their lobster bisque the three girls were bored out of their minds.

"We've got a great basement," Kasy told Briana.

"What's so great about your basement? Do you have a pool table?"

"Sometimes our basement isn't our basement."

"That's silly."

"Kasy," her sister reminded her sharply. "We aren't supposed to go down there without Mommy or Eemah. We got lost with uncle Jim and uncle Tim."

"How can you get lost in a basement?"

"It's 'cause we got a great basement," Kasy insisted.

"I want to see a basement you can get lost in."

"No!" Sheki said.

"Come on!" Kasy said and led Briana to the back stairs.

The basement door was under the backstairs and to one side of the kitchen. The servers and cooks were too busy to pay attention as the three girls stood by the basement door, closing and opening it and looking down.

"This is silly," Briana insisted.

"Well it doesn't happen all the time," Sheki explained. "Just sometimes you open the door and it's someplace else.

If she hadn't already met the ghost and dragon the blond girl would have thought they were crazy. But she was willing to stand there a little longer.

"Oh, see!" Kasy exclaimed.

Sheki peered down, "It's still our basement."

"But look, it's different. Its full of all kinds of stuff now."

"What happened to the light?" Briana wondered

It did look different, all three could tell that. But, from the light that came through the open door, it still appeared to be their basement, dimly visible at the foot of the stairs. But a basement altered from just a minute earlier.

"Can we go down?" Briana asked.

"Sure," Kasy replied.

"No, Mommy and Eemah said we can't go down when it's not our basement."

"It is our basement," Kasy pointed out. "It just looks different. Besides Eemah says if we keep the door open it won't change."

"Mommy says we don't know that," Sheki protested as Kasy grabbed a flashlight from a kitchen drawer and set a brick that was kept by the basement door for a doorstop in position to hold the door open.

"Come on," Kasy said, turning on the flashlight and leading the way. Briana went with Kasy, and Sheki reluctantly followed, still protesting.

"What is this stuff?" Kasy wondered as the flashlight illuminated old trunks, broken furniture and a wide range of junk in the basement.

"I don't know," Briana said. "But it smells funny. Maybe we should go upstairs."

It did not actually smell funny so much as it smelled musty. Musty enough that one of the servers who came in from the dining room went over and pulled the doorstop away from the basement door, letting it close.


	2. When Are We?

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

There is a reference or two in the chapter to A Markov's **Follow the Queen II: Deuces Wild**. Someday I'll have to write a story explaining the basement door. I know what happened, but haven't explained it to anyone else yet. It wasn't broken when it was installed.

**When Are We?**

When the light from the open door above them was cut off three little girls ran up the basement steps and entered a room they hadn't left. Doors and windows were in their proper place, but it wasn't their kitchen. Everything was wrong. It wasn't even the same time of day. They had gone down at night, and now sunlight shining through one of the dirty windows illuminated the room.

While Kasy frantically opened and closed the basement door, hoping it would return to the basement she knew, Briana looked outside. Instead of the grays of winter even the season was different, the world outside was green. "I'm scared," the blond girl confessed, "where are we?"

"When are we," Sheki corrected her. "I… I think we're in the past. Eemah said the house looked bad when she and Mommy moved in." She turned to her sister, "And Mommy says the basement door was okay before uncle Wade and uncle Drew had some time thing we took."

Kasy kept opening and closing the basement door - it brought them here, it could take them home. Briana moved over to stand with Kasy and hope the basement changed again. Sheki, unsure what to do, called, "HELEN! HELEN!"

An annoyed looking ghost glided into the room, "Why are you children in my house?"

"It's our house too," Sheki answered defensively.

"She can really talk with the ghost?" Briana whispered to Kasy. "I don't hear anything."

"Neither can I, but she can," Kasy admitted reluctantly - hating the fact Sheki could do something she couldn't.

"This is my father's house, and--"

"We know your father built the house," Sheki said politely, "but other people can live in it too." It would have been impolite to tell the ghost that her father had died many years earlier.

"Ask her when we are," Briana suggested.

"Sheki says Helen isn't much good with dates," Kasy whispered. "Eemah says… Eemah says she's living in the past."

"We will live here someday," Sheki told Helen, "and we will be friends."

The young woman in white, dressed for an entirely different century, looked puzzled. "Father is selling the house? Where will I go?"

"You'll stay here. We're your friends. But we're lost today."

"Can I help you?"

Sheki thought for a minute, there was nothing the ghost could do to help. She wasn't sure if anyone could help. "No… Thanks, but we need to find someone else. I just wanted to see you before we figure out what to do."

"Well, if you think of anything I can do, just call," Helen told her, and then faded from sight.

"What are we going to do?" Briana demanded.

Kasy continued to open and close the basement door, but was beginning to accept it wasn't going to work. "We need someone smart. We need someone old, so they'll be alive now."

"We don't know when now is," Sheki reminded her.

"Well, it was before Mommy and Eemah moved here… Grandpa James."

"Grandpa James?" Briana asked.

"Mommy's daddy," Sheki explained. "That's a long walk… and we don't have coats."

"It's not cold outside," Briana told her, "I looked. How long a walk is it?"

"Really, really long," Sheki sighed. "When we walk with Mommy and Eemah it takes almost an hour. I don't think grandpa is a good idea."

"Why?"

"Well, if we haven't been born yet he won't know us."

"He has to help us. He's our grandpa."

"And don't bad things happen if we see people before we're born?"

Briana added her opinion. "Nothing bad will happen to us… But we shouldn't tell people. They'll think we're crazy."

"I want to see Mommy!" Kasy added.

"No, Briana is right. We shouldn't let many people see us. It could be bad."

Kasy opened and closed the basement door twenty-five more times for luck, and then they headed out. The side door locked behind them. Their neighborhood seemed uglier than when they lived there. Vacant lots lay where they remembered new houses, and two decrepit houses stood where they remembered empty lots. As they left the area near campus they were relieved to find Middleton looked more like itself.

Briana fished a newspaper out of a garbage can and did some fast math on her fingers. "I'm not going to be born for three or four more years. What happens if we can't get home? Will they put us in an orphan place?"

"Grandpa can get us home, he's a rocket scientist," Kasy assured her.

"We don't need a rocket," the blond protested.

The three started planning as they neared the Possible home. "Mommy's in high school now… That means she and Eemah don't like each other yet…"

Kasy had an idea, "I want to see Mommy! I want to tell her to stop fighting Eemah. Then we'll be older."

"Or maybe we won't be us! We only talk with grandpa James."

"What if mommy answers the door?"

"Briana will go to the door--"

"Why do I have to go to the door?" Briana protested.

"'Cause Kasy talks too much and I look like Eemah. If uncle Jim or uncle Tim see us they'll tattle to mommy--"

"What do your uncles look like?"

Kasy did fast math. "They're big kids. They may be eleven or twelve."

"And if your mommy… Do you have a grandma?"

Kasy nodded yes.

"What if one of them comes to the door? What if nobody's home?"

"If someone who doesn't look like a grandpa comes to the door, ask for James Possible. Tell him it is very important."

"Where will you be?"

"They have a neighbor with a blue house. We'll be by the garage there."

When they got there the neighbor's house wasn't blue. The paint supply called it 'desert sand'. But the garage was there.

Briana felt nervous and scared as she walked up the sidewalk to the house. The trip to the basement wasn't fun at all. She timidly rang the bell. A minute later a boy answered, "I would like to see James Possible, please," she asked politely.

The boy turned his head and bellowed over his shoulder, "Dad! There's a kid here to see you."

In the kitchen James looked at his two guests and raised an eyebrow.

"Ask him to describe her," the young man suggested.

"What does she look like?" James called.

"She's a little kid!" he son shouted back.

"Ask about her hair color," the young woman told him.

"What color is her hair?"

"Blond."

The young man and young woman looked at each other and shrugged, "It doesn't sound like either of them."

James got up, "It may be some neighbor's child. I'd better see who it is."

After he left the kitchen the dark-skinned boy turned to his partner, "Interdimensional criminals from a parallel universe? Interdimensional criminals? That was the best you could do? He's never going to believe that if he sees them. They're what - five years old?"

"They're older than me! And they're evil."

"They're not older now. And that's what uncle James is going to see."

"Well then, we can't let him see them now - can we? Wait, age regression! If he sees them we tell him they used a regression and rejuvenation ray to disguise themselves. We tell him we need to arrest them, and then we take them into custody."

"Just as long as we can keep them from seeing Dr. Renton. If she sees them we're both in trouble. Especially you."

"Why me?"

"'Cause you're the one who installed the faulty time portal."

"I didn't install a faulty portal… Or I'm pretty sure I wouldn't… I haven't installed it yet. It was your dad's invention that messed it up."

Team J quarreled in the kitchen for several minutes before it struck them that James Possible had not returned.

The dark-skinned youth looked at his chronometer. "What's keeping uncle James? He should have been back."

The redhead slapped her forehead, "Oh, Shaz! The blond must have been Sheki - she got a wig somewhere. She's devious, and Kasy always has grandpa wrapped around her little finger. He's not coming back! We've got to find them! C'mon Junior."

They went out the side door and split up, he circled left and she went right. They met on the other side of the house.

She frowned, "I think they may have given us the slip."

"Uncle James is a cagey old bird."

"Ha! My grandfather is a rocket scientist."

He raised one eyebrow, "You really want to go there with me?"

"Not now," she told him. "We need to put this away fast. I've got an idea.


	3. But You're Our Grandfather

Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**But You're Our Grandfather**

The blond girl's dress was too warm for the weather. She grabbed James Possible's hand when he came to the door, her timidity driven out by fear. "You have to talk with my friends. You have to help us."

James Possible wondered what sort of muggers would use a little girl to lure him outside, and was too suspicious to accompany the girl more than a few feet outside his home. "You need to tell me what this is about."

"We're lost! You have to help us!"

"Where do you live? Can I call the police?"

"No. You have to…" The girl looked over towards the Anderson's house and shouted, "He doesn't want to come."

A red-haired girl wearing a green cap peered around the edge of the garage. His heart skipped a beat, the child looked like Kim when she was small. When she stepped out into the sun, however, he noticed the slight tinge of green to her skin he had been warned about. Interdimensional criminal? She certainly didn't look like a criminal, she looked like a North Pole elf in her green dress and red and white striped stockings.

"Help us," the red-haired girl asked.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Please, we need help."

"I'm not going to help you unless I know you are," he told her firmly.

"You have to help us - you're our grandpa!"

"YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO TELL HIM THAT!" an accusatory voice shouted.

"All right, who is that? I want to see her too."

"That's my sister," Kasy told him, pulling a reluctant Sheki out from behind the garage.

"Are there any more of you?"

"Please, they said you can help us," the blond girl holding his hand told him.

"Are there any more of you?" he repeated.

"No," the redhead told him. "There are three of us. We got lost."

Kasy and Sheki moved over to join him.

James tried to remain calm. Three scared little girls stood before him. He had no idea who the two teens in his kitchen were - or why they had been so relieved to find Kim was on a mission and not home, but this trio seemed harmless.

"Where do you live?"

"In Middleton."

"Do you know your house number?"

"Yes…" the girl who appeared to have dark green hair told him. "But we don't live there yet."

"Is your family moving to Middleton? Did you get lost on a visit?"

"We haven't been born yet," the blond said.

"Of course you've been born. You're here now. Look, why don't I make a couple calls - see if I can find someone to help you."

Kasy threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly, "You've got to help us. You're our grandpa."

"You said that before… That's impossible, my children are too young."

"We're from the future," Sheki told him glumly. She was angry with Kasy for telling Grandpa James too much, but knew he had to be told. "And you always tell us anything is possible for a Possible."

"I tell you that?"

"You will," Kasy assured him.

"And you three are my grand-daughters?"

"Not me," Briana said quickly. "My Mommy and Daddy came to eat… will come to eat dinner… and we got lost."

"How did you get lost?"

Briana pointed an accusatory finger at Kasy, "She said they had a great basement. But when we came out of it the house wasn't the same."

James felt the need to sit down, and suddenly remembered the duo inside his house. He did not want these three to meet the two until he had a better sense of what was happening. "We need to talk. Can we go somewhere? I don't want to go in the house."

"Yeah, grandma Anne shouldn't see us… Or mommy," Kasy agreed.

Sheki punched her sister in the arm. "Don't say things. We might change something."

"But where to go," James mused aloud, "I don't suppose anyone wants ice cream?"

"Dairy Delight!" Kasy said excitedly. "You can get me a double-fudge sundae."

"No," Sheki hissed. "You always ask, and… says you can't have it."

"We don't have a Dairy Delight in Middleton."

"It isn't built yet?" Briana complained. "That's my favorite."

"There's a King Kone a couple blocks from here," he suggested.

The trio was a little footsore from their hike, but willing to go the extra distance for ice cream.

--

"Ice cream!" the red-haired teen exclaimed. "I'll bet grandpa James took them for ice cream!"

"Great," her partner complained, "and how many unhealth-food vendors does Middleton have now?"

"Dairy Delight - they used to go to Dairy Delight before they tore it down. I know where it was - let's go. Maybe we can even get some ice cream for ourselves. You got coin?"

"Why do you always think I carry coin?"

"Because you always do - and your dad's a gazillionaire. I want ice cream."

"Bad for you," he grumbled.

--

After getting their ice cream the four sat down in a booth. Kasy crowded in by her grandfather and Sheki sat opposite him. "I'm going to pretend for a minute you two are my grandkids, and that the three of you aren't cute little conmen holding me up for ice cream. How do you propose I help you?"

"You're our grandpa, you can do anything," Kasy told him confidently.

Sheki had a little more of an idea "Mommy said when she was in high school she and Dr. Renton did something for science fair. Dr. Renton made some time thing. Maybe she can help us."

"That wasn't Dr. Renton who was Kimmie's science fair partner, that was Justine Flanner she--"

"But aunt Justine--" Kasy interrupted, "Owww! Why'd you kick me?"

Sheki glared at her sister and put a finger to her lips. Then she looked at her grandfather, "I forgot. Can we see mommy's friend Justine?"

"I'm not sure if she's still in Middleton, or if she went out to MIT in Boston… And, if I remember correctly, her Continuum Disruptor wasn't very precise in terms of pin-pointing exact dates and locations it created a field of--"

"Please, grandpa," Kasy pleaded, "can you ask? I want to go home."

"I want to go home too," Briana added.

"We all want to go home," Sheki snapped in exasperation, "and Justine is our best hope."

"How about uncle Wade," Kasy suggested, "Or uncle Dre-- Oww! Stop kicking me!"

"Stop saying things in front of Grandpa! He doesn't know things yet. And they aren't gonna work on a time machine until after we're born."

James Possible wasn't certain if he had ever felt so terribly conflicted. He wondered if the teenagers he had left at his home were working with this little trio, or somehow their enemies - but he couldn't believe these little girls were interdimensional criminals of any sort. The little redhead treated him as she had known him all her life, and he wondered if he really saw a great deal of Kim in her - or if he simply wanted to see a great deal of Kim in her. If they really were from the future there were a thousand questions he wanted to ask them, but he suspected the wise little sister sitting across from him was correct - he shouldn't know these things. There was too much chance knowledge of the future might even keep it from happening. He looked over at Sheki again. The green in the skin still confused him and he wondered if it had something to do with the costume. He peered closely at the girl; it didn't seem to be makeup.

"You came here from a Christmas party?"

"Solstice party," Kasy corrected him. Sheki let it pass, Grandpa needed some reason for their being dressed like this. "Lots of lawyers."

"My daddy's a lawyer," Briana chirped up.

_"So Kim is going to be a lawyer."_ "Your mommy was feeling well when you left?"

"Mommy was fine."

"Oh good, how about your father?" James asked the girls as nonchalantly as he could manage.

There was a moment of silence. "Father?" Sheki asked nervously. The girls had been told to let the question pass. They'd also been raised to tell the truth when questioned by family.

"Ron is daddy," Kasy answered cheerfully.

"But he isn't really," Sheki added.

James frowned, "Ron isn't really your father?"

"No," Kasy admitted reluctantly. "But everyone thinks he is."

James closed his eyes, this sounded bad. It sounded very bad. "So, what happened to your father?"

"We don't have a father. We have Eemah."

"Eemah?"

"She's their other mommy," Briana explained.

_"Other mommy?"_ He kept his mouth shut. He had already heard more than he should have, more than he wanted to. Were these two half sisters - sharing a dad who had deserted two women? And where did they get the odd skin color? He knew of only one person who had a green tinge to her skin, and she was one of Kim's most bitter enemies… James Possible suddenly felt ill. He pushed the plastic dish of ice cream away from him, unable to eat another bite.

"Are you okay, Grandpa?" Sheki asked.

"Not hungry any more."

"You always finish your ice cream," Kasy added in a worried voice.

"I'd eaten something in the house," he lied. "That's why I'm not hungry."

"Can I finish it then?"

"Sure." The redhead seized a spoon and went to work. He wondered if he should have added, "share with your sister." Before he could say anything, however, the blond girl spoke up.

"When can we see that person? We've been gone a long time. Mommy and Daddy will be worried and we'll get in trouble."

"Maybe she can send us back right after we leave," Sheki suggested.

"Maybe she can send us back before we leave - and then we won't have to be here at all!"

"But if we don't go how will we know to tell us we shouldn't go?"

The little girls were giving James Possible a headache.

--

The little girls were giving their pursuers a headache too.

"This isn't a Dairy Delight," he pointed out.

"Well, it will be," she snapped. "And he's going to take them here a lot."

"Maybe we should sit and wait," he suggested dryly, "we can eat doughnuts until they get here."

"You are truly unbecoming in sarcasm, how about a good idea from you for a change?"

"Sure. If nobody's looking I'll do a fast search."

She looked around, "Go ahead."

He tapped a device on his wrist and a small holographic image of a screen shimmered in the air over his arm, "Search: ice cream, Middleton."

The screen whirled and shimmered, then blinked 'Error'. "This unit is not configured for the data streams available," a feminine voice announced.

"Big Z," he said in frustration.

She grabbed his arm, "Library."

"Library? What's that?"

She shook her head sadly and pulled him along.

--

A young man came in and ordered a no-fat raspberry frozen yogurt. Something about the teen caught the attention of James Possible. He sounded like the dark-skinned youth at the house, and his clothes also didn't match current styles. _"I'm getting paranoid with all this talk of criminals and time machines, he doesn't look anything like the guy back at the house."_

The young man sat two booths away, but given the small size of King Kone and the fact five-year olds are born without volume controls it was sufficiently close enough to hear everything said at the booth with the adult and three children.

--

"This is a library," the redhead told him. "There is information here you can't get at home."

"Whoa, lots of dead trees…" he muttered, looking at the rows of books. "How do you find anything?"

"Jump far enough they have something called card catalogues--"

"What's a card catalogue?"

"Don't worry, it's on computer now." She headed for an open terminal.

"Where's the mike?" he asked staring at the equipment.

"Keyboard," she informed him and began to peck out a search request. "I'll find ice cream shops. Go ask for a phone book. Get the Flanners' address."

"Phone book?"

"Ask the reference librarian for help. Shaz, you really need to spend more time out of the lab and in the real world.

"This isn't our world."

"It was. Now zip and get address."

--

"Can you get the car," Kasy complained. "I'm tired."

James assumed that the duo had left his home, but was still not positive these three children were what they appeared to be and felt a little nervous about getting into a car with them. He also did not want to take them home in case the pair was still there waiting. And he didn't want to leave them alone if two of them were his grandkids and there were two strangers looking for them. "I think we need to walk, sorry."

The red head cocked her head to one side and gave him the puppy-dog pout, "Then can I get a piggy-back ride, pweeze?"

"Only for a block."

She smiled, "Great!"

--

As Team J left the library they saw themselves standing outside. They waved at each other, but didn't speak. Talking with yourself was considered bad luck under normal circumstances in the corps. The pair arrived at King Kone, but found no James Possible or his small wards

"Fleam," he grunted in disgust, "Now what?"

She nudged him with an elbow, "Is that you in the back booth wearing holo number two?"

The young man in the booth dropped the holo disguise and waved them back. They slid in opposite him.

"What's the word?" she asked.

The version who had been waiting in the booth spoke to his other self first, "Go back twenty, but stay here. You'll hear them head over to the Flanners."

"Shaz!" she swore.

"And alert us when we come in?" the young man who had arrived with the girl verified.

"Exactly," his counterpart assured him. "Wear number two. Oh, they've got a no-fat frozen yogurt with active culture and natural juice sweeteners. You'll order the raspberry."

The girl spoke to the young man who had been waiting for them, "You and I are twenty back to the library?"

"Yeah, much closer to the Flanners, we'll beat them easy."

Team J arrived back at the library in time to see themselves leave the building. They waved at each other, but didn't speak. Talking with yourself was considered bad luck under normal circumstances in the corps.

--

Reaching the Flanners had taken longer than James expected. After the redhead got her piggy-back ride the dark-haired girl asked for one. Her resemblance to one of Kim's enemies made James hesitate a second, but if she were his grandchild he shouldn't show favoritism and Sheki got carried for a block. And when James set her down at the end of the block Sheki generously offered Briana a ride on her grandfather's back. The little blond girl took advantage of the offer and got a ride also. Kasy asked for another turn and James begged off, "Grandpa is too tired."

Kasy continued to wheedle her grandfather, and a block and a half until the Flanners the little redhead was back up on his shoulders.

Their approach was observed by the teens waiting in ambush.

"It's them," he hissed.

"Give me something that looks threatening."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm putting them under arrest. I need a weapon."

"I don't have a weapon!"

"I know that - but they don't. Give me something I can tell them is a weapon!"

"I don't have anything I can--"

"Shaz! You're impossible! You need something practical in your holos." She reached into the bag from the bakery, then stepped out - the objects in her hands aimed at the small children.

"Good job finding the criminals for us, Dr. Possible. Now, please step away from them and my partner and I will take them into custody."

James Possible could not be certain, but it looked like the teenager was threatening the children with a pair of chocolate-frosted, Bavarian-cream filled Bismarcks


	4. The Great Mandala

Boilerplate Disclaimer: Disney owns all the characters from Kim Possible. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

**The Great Mandala**

Kasy stared at the red-haired girl, and then looked at her grandfather, "You're giving us to her?" she asked in an accusing voice.

James swung the little girl down off his shoulders, "I don't know who she is, and I won't turn you over to her - stand behind me." He faced the young woman, "I don't know what you are doing here - but I am not handing these children over to you… Where is your partner?"

"Here, Sir," the young man said - joining the red-head in the standoff. "And, might I suggest we move away from this location. None of us should desire this encounter to be observed.

Briana nudged Sheki, "What did he say?"

"He said we should move."

The group left the sidewalk and into the trees of the small park where the teenagers had been waiting. The young woman kept her 'weapons' aimed at the children.

The two seemed eerily familiar to Dr. Possible, and he asked a question, "Are you a Kim and Wade from a parallel dimension?"

The young woman smiled, "You're half right, Sir, but--"

"More like a quarter right," her darker companion snorted.

"Half."

"Half of half is a quarter. You want me to explain it to you later?"

"You read William Hartnell's monograph on Time and Relative Dimensions in Space?"

"No," he admitted grudgingly.

"Half right," she told him smugly. "You want me to explain it to you later?" She sincerely hoped he didn't - since she had just made up the monograph.

"Pardon me," James interrupted, "but are you threatening us with jelly doughnuts?"

"They just look like jelly doughnuts," she replied. "Holographic technology disguises their true nature. A scientist such as yourself might gain technological information from seeing them."

"Holographic technology like that doesn't exist."

"Maybe not on your world." The girl kept her eyes on James and the children as she addressed her partner, "J, give them a holo show, go through your disguises."

Junior began switching through the options.

"Hey, you were at the ice cream place," Sheki exclaimed on number two.

He stayed on most of the disguises four or five seconds, but hurriedly rushed over number seven - a young woman of impressive proportions and very little clothing.

"What was that?" his partner snapped.

"J-Just a test," he stammered. "I forgot it was on there."

"A test?"

"Uh, in case I need a disguise at a beach or something."

"That what you're going to tell your mom and dad?"

"You say anything and I'll tell your moms you skipped soccer practice last week to make out with Francis."

"We didn't-- How'd you know I skipped soccer?"

"Gabriela asked me if your ankle was well enough to play again. Who else would you skip soccer for?"

While the teens argued James and three little girls had moved gradually away from the pair.

"Hey, stop that!" the girl called. "Bring those criminals back here!"

"They aren't criminals," Dr. Possible insisted, "they're children, and you're scaring them."

"They may look like children, but that is purely a disguise on their part. They are evil and dangerous. Probably used an age regression ray to look young. We see it all the time in our work. They find some innocent victim in another dimension and they--"

"I am not from another dimension," Sheki insisted. "He's our grandpa!"

"I have no idea what story these little crooks have concocted, Dr. Possible, but you shouldn't believe a word Veeble and Vorbox have told you."

"Veeble and Vorbox?"

"Wanted in five dimensions. Please, you need to let us take them off your hands now. You don't know how dangerous these two can be."

"What about their friend?"

"Their friend?"

James pointed at the blond, who didn't like the attention.

"Snert."

"Excuse me?"

"We didn't realize they were traveling with their friend Snert. He--"

"I'm a girl!"

"The disguise is excellent, isn't it?" Jane commented to Dr. Possible. "Snert is less dangerous, but still shouldn't be trusted in anything he says."

The blond spoke up, "My name is Briana."

The boy's eyes went wide, "Briana Crandall?"

She looked puzzled. "Yes," she answered hesitantly.

"It's Briana!" he whispered to his partner.

The two went into a hurried, whispered conference with one another.

"You just blew the whole cover story you idiot!" she complained. "If you know her last name it means we know she's not a criminal."

"She's Briana Crandall!"

"Yeah, she's been their friend forever. So?"

"She was the greatest babysitter I ever had… My first crush when I was ten!"

"And here I thought you came over to play with me. You just came over to stare at my sisters' friends."

"You really thought I came over to play with you?"

"Like any of them even know you breathe? They're like, nova, and you're like white dwarf."

"Hey, watch it," the dark-skinned boy warned.

"Excuse me." James Possible interrupted, "But are you through threatening us with the Bavarian creams yet?"

"Weapons!" she insisted, "dangerous scary weapons. You don't want to know what I can do with these."

"What can you do with those?"

"I told you, you don't want to know."

"Well, the only people who I know have lied to me are the two of you. So I think you can put down the doughnuts. You knew these three… well, two of them anyway, were arriving. Why are you here?"

"We're here to take them home."

All three girls perked up at the news, although none of them lost their suspicions of the pair. They let Dr. Possible lead the interrogation. "Why did you tell me they were criminals?"

"Technically, they are in violation of several laws restricting time travel."

"Are we going to jail?" Kasy asked.

_"You should,"_ the red-head thought. "No. No jail. I didn't want your grandfather to believe anything you told him. So if I told him you were little crooks he'd think you're lying."

"Mommy says not to lie," Sheki said.

_"Like the two of you ever listen to anybody."_ "I hoped that if you had told Dr. Possible anything you shouldn't have he wouldn't believe it. It is possible to really mess your own lives up if you aren't careful. My partner and I are trained professionals."

Junior corrected her, "I think we're amateurs with a lot of practical experience.

She turned back to Dr. Possible, "I need to talk to you out of earshot of these three."

"Girls, go play on the swings for a minute. Big people talk."

"Can they really take us home?"

"That's what I want to know. Now go play."

The young woman spoke quietly "We're still figuring out the laws of temporal physics. Some dangerous discoveries were made, and the Time Cops were set up to try and keep disasters from happening."

"This is a disaster?"

"Could be," Junior told him. He had moved over to join the conversation. "Depends on what they told you and what you're going to do."

James Possible watched the girls on the swings for a minute. Despite their fears, or perhaps because of the hope of going home, the three children were laughing and giggling as they played together. "I think I want those two in my future… How can I be sure I won't mess something up? Do you have some sort of memory eraser to take away this afternoon?"

"Short term memory erasers… Way too dangerous to carry. Seemed like every kid in the country wanted one to use on a teacher. Absolutely banned - anyone caught carrying one does one year's hard labor in the salt mines on Venus. Ten years if you're caught using one," she explained.

"Why do I think you're making that up?"

"Because she is," Junior told him. "Any scientist who comes close forgets what he's doing. They'll never be invented."

"You don't know the future."

"Actually, we do. And if one had been perfected someone would have come back and given us one for situations like this."

"What now? Can you really take them home?"

"We can," she assured him, "but the less you hear the better. Go play with the girls for a minute and we'll get set up." He smiled at her and nodded. He was startled to notice something in the bright sunlight he had not noticed in the florescent light at his home - her skin also had a tinge of green; while fainter than the green of the two young girls he could detect the tone in her own fair skin. He smiled, suddenly willing to trust the young woman.

As James Possible walked over to the swings there were cries of "Push me, grandpa!" "No, push me!"

"What's the plan?" Junior asked.

"I put a fail-safe portal in the library closet…"

"After you put a faulty portal on the basement door!"

"I haven't put it there yet! Maybe it wasn't even me!"

"You told you it was you."

"Yeah, well, sometimes I make up things."

"That's for sure."

"And besides, it's your dad's fault the switch is bad on the basement door."

"Fleam, don't blame my dad for your--"

"Let's get them home, okay? We can finish this argument in twenty years or so."

"How we going to do it?"

"We'll both jump forward to the closet and I'll set coordinates. I'll jump them to you one at a time, you stay there and send the Chrono back. Don't let them out until all three are there."

"You jumping to closet?"

"Nah. I'll jump home. You can jump after you let them out."

James Possible felt a moment of panic when the two teenagers disappeared but she was back momentarily.

"Time for you three to go home," she called.

"Do you have a time machine?" Sheki wanted to know.

"I'm wearing it," she said - showing the device on her wrist. "It only takes one person at a time--"

"Then how do we get home?" Kasy protested.

"By closing your mouth and listening for a minute. I can send you one at a time to a closet in your house. You'll arrive back about twenty minutes after you left. My partner is there waiting for you. He knows a little button to press to send my time machine come back to me - then I'll send the next one until you all three are back. You, the red-haired kid, you go first."

Kasy gave her grandfather a big hug. "I love you!" Then she was gone. Briana followed a minute later after the Chrono returned to Jane, and then Sheki.

--

After dinner Mrs. Crandall told Kim, "We'd better take Briana home. It's way past her bedtime." When Kim took her upstairs they found Sheki and Briana sprawled on Sheki's lower bunk - sound asleep - with Kasy curled up on a large bean bag chair beside them.

Kim put her hand on the other woman's arm as she moved toward her daughter. "Come downstairs and stay awhile. If she wakes up you can take her home. Or you can leave her here - we've got extra toothbrushes and anything else she'll need."

"I don't want to bother you."

"No bother. They must have had fun to conk out like this. If she stays Ron can make her breakfast in the morning."

"Ron?"

"My best friend forever. He lives here too... You met him last year."

She thought for a minute. "A blond man?"

"Yes, he's a great cook."

"Oh, all right..." Mrs Crandall said with some hesitation. "I'm worried about her panicking in a strange place."

"She'll be fine," Kim assured her.

They covered the girls up with blankets and went downstairs.

--

Although the bar crew left as the dinner started the liquor remained, "I paid for it, it's mine," Alice said and poured herself a large brandy as the guests began to leave. The Crandalls, along with the Judge and her partner were among the small number of guests talking in the living room when the front door opened. Steps were heard crossing the entryway and running upstairs before a door slammed overhead.

"Someone in a hurry to get to the John," Shego suggested.

Ron walked into the living room a couple minutes later, "Are women all crazy?"

"Dangerous question, Stoppable," Shego growled. "You want to find a safer way of wording that?"

"Uh, is Bonnie crazy? She went all mad on me tonight."

"All mad on you?" Kim asked. "What did you do?"

"Well, we went to the Off-Elm for dinner and the show--"

"Good start," Mrs. Crandall told him, and nudged her husband to give him a hint.

"Then I suggested stopping at a romantic little place I know for a snack on the way home--"

"Sounds good," Kim assured him.

"Wait a minute. Stoppable, what was that romantic place you know? And you'd better not say Bueno Nacho."

"Ron, you didn't?"

Ron looked uncomfortable.

Kim sighed, "What did you get her?"

"Well she ordered a--"

"Not food!" Shego almost shouted, "What gift did you have for her?"

"Gift?"

Shego and Kim looked at each other. Kim sighed. "This is why you dumped him, isn't it," Shego suggested.

"I'm feeling lost," Steve Crandall complained.

"After the party last year they got engaged," Shego explained.

"Major anniversary," Kim added.

Steve paled, "And he got her..."

"Bupkis," Shego sighed. "Gonna be a long time 'til he sees the other side of her bedroom door again."

"It's too late tonight, go out first thing tomorrow," Kim told Ron. "Buy her something nice." _"Pick out a ring."_

"Something she wants," Shego added. _"Buy her the ring."_

Mrs. Crandall had a suggestion, "Something expensive," _"Something to go with her engagement ring."_

"Fine," Ron sighed. "First thing tomorrow." _"They have a cool new Blackberry at 'Lectronics R Us."_

--

Years before the conversation in the Possible Manor living room, on a warm afternoon in late June, an electronic device from another era materialized in the hand of a teenage girl. As quickly as it appeared James Possible reached over and took it.

"Hey, give that back!" she protested.

"First you are going to answer some questions, young lady."

"No, you know way too much already. I'm hoping there was no damage from today, but the more you know the greater the chance of something going wrong down the line."

"One question, you have to answer one question."

"No I don't."

"Do you want to get home?"

"What's the question?" she asked grudgingly. "And I don't have to answer."

"Is Kimmie really happy with Shego?"

The girl smiled. "Yes, they're both very happy."

He shook his head, "I can't believe it."

"The first few years weren't easy, but Eemah says you…" She suddenly stopped talking. James wondered if it was because she realized she had just admitted what he already knew. "She says you were always kind and supportive… We always thought it was become of grandma Anne's parents being, well…"

"Anne and I promised to always be supportive of our children and their choices, no matter who they brought home. I don't think we had anyone like your Eemah in mind when we made that promise."

The girl laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "You did great."

"Can I warn Anne, please?"

The girl thought for a minute. "No, you can't. You already know more than you should."

"But--"

"It's important you not say a thing."

"It will be hard on her."

"It probably will be. But you have to let it happen." The girl suddenly laughed. "You get to be very supportive to everybody. And this is why the family says you're the best husband, and father, and grandfather in the world." She threw her arms around him and gave him a hug.

"I imagine big sisters are a pain."

"They sure are. Uncle Jim has stories about… How did you know they were my older sisters?"

"Because they didn't recognize you."

"Oh. You tell me stories about what uncle Slim did to you when I complain about how the twins treat me."

He chuckled and gave her a hug. "Big brothers can be a pain too. You and your sisters are going to be a handful."

"Us? Just wait until you see uncle Tim's family."

"Did today ruin anything? Will those two troublemakers still be my granddaughters?"

She hesitated, "I don't think today ruined anything - but I can't be sure 'til I get back to the Dome and check. When someone jumps back it screws up the time stream and our instruments don't work right. That's why we miss details about exact time and location. And when we come back our presence throws things off too. I could give you a reading now, but don't know if it will be accurate."

"Please, give me a reading."

"Let me see my Chrono."

He kept his hold on it, but held the device so that she could work with it. She pushed buttons, and waited. A minute later a green light blinked.

"Green is good?" he asked anxiously.

"Green is good," she assured him, "but remember, I need green when I get home to really be sure."

"Can you come back and tell me if it's green when you get home?"

She put her arms around him and gave him a hug, "Silly grandpa. If I come back to tell you things are fine I might really mess things up."

"I guess that's right." The hug felt good. She might be a year or two younger than Kim. How very strange to have a granddaughter as old as her mother.

"How long until I see your sisters."

"You know too much now. I'm sorry."

"Can you do me one favor?"

"Maybe," she answered cautiously. "What is it?"

"If I'm still alive, when it's tomorrow for you, take me out for ice cream and let me know I can finally admit to Anne I knew this - the pressure on me is going to be awful."

She squeezed her grandfather tightly, "For you, grandpa, anything… But maybe you shouldn't tell grandma. She might be mad you didn't tell her."

"I've got a few years to decide. Promise - ice cream on your tomorrow and let me know I'm free to talk."

"I promise."

He handed her the time device, and after a final hug and kiss on the cheek she disappeared.

James Possible sighed. He felt certain he'd never forget this day, but in case he did he would write up a little slip of paper and stick it in his wallet. After his granddaughter took him out for ice cream he would have to call Kim and warn her about her younger daughter and Francis.

--The End--


End file.
